Vodafone Premier League Kicks Start on Sunday

Nadi-Ba
The first round of the Vodafone Premier League sees western giants Ba and Nadi face off in the feature match.
Ba finished second in last year’s competition and will be looking to go one better this year.
The Men in Black will be using the first round of competition as a build–up towards the OFC Champions League but know they will need to make a god start if they are to qualify for next year’s regional meet.
Team Manager, Arvin Singh says, they do not underestimate Nadi but will be out to win.
“It is not easy to play Nadi at their home ground but we have been preparing well. We have the same set of players who played at the Courts IDC and we hope to get points in our first few matches to set a good platform.”
Nadi on the other hand ha a disappointing season last year as they finished 6th in the eight team national league competition.
The Jetsetters want a good start to compete for that OFC Champions League spot.
Team President Javed Ahmed says their aim is to do better during the Vodafone Premier League this year.
“We taking each match seriously and will not let Ba go easily, “Khan said.
Khan said they were aware of Ba’s strength as they had been training for past few weeks.
“We know Ba is well prepared as they are preparing for the OFC Champions League but our boys are aware of our goal this year.”
“We will do our best to as this will be the first match of us which is important for us.”Khan said.
Nadi hosts Ba at 3pm at Prince Charles Park on Sunday.

Lautoka-Tavua
This match is expected to be a thriller as Tavua plays its first national league match in the Premier division in five years.
They surprised everyone at the Courts IDC holding teams like Lautoka and Nadi and may prove to be a hard team to beat.
Team coach Saroj Kumar says, they want to continue with the momentum they left off with at the IDC.
“We proved out worth at the IDC and we want to keep it that way. We are not going to the top division just to compete but to make a name for ourselves. It will not be easy as we play Lautoka in their home ground in the first match but we are up for it.”
Lautoka coach Kamal Swamy is wary of the opponents.
“Tavua nearly gave us a scare at the IDC and we cannot underestimate them. We will play two matches in three days as we play CVC on Friday night. We have to be very careful with our approach.”
Lautoka plays Tavua at 3pm at Churchill Park on Sunday.
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Rewa-Suva
The clash of the two southern neighbors will see their campaign kick start for 2018.
Suva finished third in last year’s competition and Team President Ritesh Pratap says their aim is to finish in the top two.
“Well we want to finish in the top two and qualify for the OFC Champions League. That is what we will work towards. We have done that in the past and we know we can do it again.”
Rewa coach Marika Rodu says, they are struggling to get all players in training and they will take a defensive approach against Suva.
“We are well aware of the capabilities of Suva and according to that we will rely on our counter attacks. Only 12 players have been training from last week and others are yet to show up.”
Rewa won last year’s Inkk Mobile Battle of the Giants and Vodafone Fiji FACt tournaments.
The Rewa-Suva match kicks off at 3pm at Ratu Cakobau Park on Sunday.

About FIJI FA

Fiji was among the founding members of OFC along with Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The nation of around 800,000 has traditionally been one of Oceania best performers – second only to New Zealand in the FIFA rankings for men. The Fiji Football Association (FFA) nurtures hopes of one day toppling the giants in Oceania and qualifying for a FIFA finals competition.